Delhi Police said the decision to add more sniffer dogs to the force was taken after inputs from the Special Cell of Delhi Police on possible terror attacks in New Delhi

Sniffer dogs help in locating explosives and finding evidence at crime spots (Representational)

New Delhi: Delhi Police will add 35 sniffer dogs trained by the Indian Army within a month, a senior police officer said on Tuesday. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajan Bhagat said these dogs would help police in locating explosives and finding evidence at crime spots.

The decision to add these dogs to the force was taken after inputs from the Special Cell of Delhi Police on possible terror attacks in the city.

Even on Monday, the Special Cell issued an advisory about two terrorists trying to enter Delhi.

"Currently we have 60 sniffer dogs, comprising Labradors, German Shepherds and Cocker Spaniels. But we have a requirement for 150 dogs. At present, we have two to three dogs in each police district. This is less than the minimum requirement," Mr Bhagat said.

"We keep such dogs for eight years and after that we declare them retired. We need more strength this time to manage the security of Delhi. Therefore, we sent a proposal to the army to give Delhi Police 150 dogs more.

"They agreed to give us 100 dogs soon, out of which 35 trained dogs will be given this month from the Army Veterinary Corps," said Mr Bhagat, who is also in-charge of the Delhi Police Dog Squad.

These dogs are also deployed at Delhi Metro stations, hotels and VVIP events. "Delhi witnesses a number of VVIP programmes or mass activities daily, which can be targeted by anti-national elements," the officer said.

According to Mr Bhagat, currently 60 dogs are kept at two centres in Model Town and Chanakyapuri. "But all of them are not fit for work round-the-clock. So we decided to raise their number."

"We will keep the dogs to be given by the army in our newly-built first-of-its-kind multi-storey dog squad building, having a capacity to accommodate 35 dogs, in Pushp Vihar, adjacent to the Crime Branch office," he said.

"These dogs are given tough training spanning over six to nine months by the army. The National Security Guard also hires trained dogs from the army. These dogs are handed over to NGOs working in the veterinary field after we retire them," Mr Bhagat added.